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“Charles !” Arthur calls from upstairs, before running down.
Charles stands up from the couch in a hurry, frightened. “Qu'est-ce qu'il y a ?” (What is it?)
“C'est Carlos. Il va à Williams.” (It's Carlos. He's going to Williams.)
Charles stops.
Oh.
“Oui, il m'a parlé de la possibilité,” he says, with a dismissive motion of the hand. (Yes, he told me about the possibility.)
Carlos and him have been talking about it for some time. Charles always followed the negotiations closely, wanting the certainty that Carlos had a seat secured for next year. Carlos kept him updated about it, just enough to let him know he was talking with different teams and had a good chance, not enough to risk having Charles let himself slip important information during interviews.
Arthur follows him with his eyes as Charles walks past him to go to his room, Leo trotting behind.
“Ça va ?” Arthur asks after him, his eyebrows growing closer in concern and confusion. (You okay?)
“Ouais.” (Yeah.) It's only a faint answer right before there's the sound of a door closing.
Charles sits back on his bed and sighs. Leo tries to jump on the bed as well but his little legs fail him.
“Oh, Leo,” Charles mumbles, leaning down to take the dog in his hands and let him join on the bed. Leo cuddles into his lap and Charles sighs again and pets him.
With the other hand he reaches for his phone and calls Carlos. The line is busy and Charles is sent to voicemail.
Leo climbs onto his torso and licks his face, Charles laughs.
He decides to spend the next minutes going through his phone's gallery and saving some pictures to add to a post dedicated to his teammate.
He stumbles across the screenshot of one of their challenges Carlos has sent him once, just for laughs. Charles has never deleted it. He smiles, a bittersweet thing, and saves it with the other pictures.
The video Charles took of Carlos’ shoes to post on his story so much time earlier, is also still untouched on his phone's memory.
Charles doesn't know why this video in particular, but it needs to go in the post.
Maybe it's because it shows the fun they have together.
They have had together.
He goes on Instagram and tries to find the words to write in the post.
Fuck, this is hard.
With Leo's moral support he manages to write down something.
“Wishing you the best for your new adventure next year Chili.” Charles doesn't actually know if Carlos would like him to use that name, the name his friends in Madrid gave to him, but Charles has written it down now.
“Still got half a season together to have some more special moments as teammates.”
And yes, he means incredible races, like Australia, but he also means fun, like “MADAGASCAR!” That is something his next year's teammate will never be able to replace.
Not long after, like, actually just a few minutes later, Carlos has liked the post and has replied in the comments.
“10 more races together, let's make the most of them!”
Ah so this post he likes immediately.
That asshole only interacts with something when it's about him. Charles loves him.
Seeing that, Charles would call Carlos again, but Carlos does it first.
“Hey,” Carlos says, “You've seen the news?”
“Arthur told me,” Charles replies, “I wasn't expecting an announcement today.”
“Yeah, sorry, I wanted to tell you but… I mean, you're not exactly the most reliable person when it comes to secrets.”
Charles laughs. “Yes, I know.”
“Thank you, by the way.”
“For what?”
“The post. It was unexpected, but very cute.”
Charles scratches Leo behind his ear, trying to sound casual. “Oh, that. Yeah, you know, I was going through some old pictures.”
“You're already missing me that much?” Carlos asks, he's smiling.
Charles ponders whether or not he should answer the question truthfully. “Of course,” he says.
“Me too, we should meet up this summer break. Where are you now?”
“Home for a few days. You?”
“I'm in Scotland at the moment, but I think I'll go home soon too. You could come over one of these weeks.”
Charles smiles. “You'll finally make me those hamburgers you promised?”
“If you come over, sure.”
Before Charles can react he sees Leo jumping down from his bed and hitting the ground at an ugly angle.
“Putain, Leo !” he sighs, standing up and taking the dog in his arms to check he's okay. Leo whines.
“What was that?” Carlos asks over the phone.
“Sorry, it was Leo. He fell from the bed.”
Carlos laughs. “Is he okay?”
“Yes, all fine.”
“You should bring him when you come to Madrid.”
Charles laughs as well. “I will, for sure, I'm not leaving him behind with Arthur.”
“What did I do wrong?” comes Arthur's voice from outside the room.
“Arthur, stop eavesdropping!”
“Sorry!”
“Go away!”
“Was that actually Arthur listening in?” Carlos asks, laughing.
“Yeah, he does that sometimes. Ana doesn't?”
“No. Or, I don't think so. Maybe she does and I don't know. Tío, you're giving me doubts now!”
“Hehe, she isn't listening now just because you're away from home.”
“Charles!” Carlos laughs.
Sciarls.
“So,” Charles says, to change the subject, “Why Williams, in the end?”
“You didn't read my statement?”
“No, I did, I did. You really believe in the project?”
“I do. You have to have confidence in the project as a driver. You have to push for that project. Also, James basically begged me to jump onboard.”
“Haha, of course he did. Who wouldn't want you?”
There's a second of silence.
“Ferrari apparently.”
“Carlos, come on, we've talked about this.”
“I'm joking, I'm joking, don't worry,” Carlos says, he's chuckling, “I know my worth.”
Speaking of which. “I thought Red Bull would take you,” Charles says, honestly, sitting back down on the end of his bed and reaching out a hand to absentmindedly play with Leo, “Maybe I hoped they would take you.”
“Lando said the same thing.”
“And do you agree with your two favourite teammates?”
Carlos chuckles. “Cheeky.”
Charles figures Carlos would pinch him in the side right now if they were in the same room.
“Can't say. I've got a contract now.”
“I never thought your departure from Ferrari would come this soon.” Charles sighs. Unadorned sincerity.
“Charles, it's almost a year that we know.”
“Yes. And half a year since the announcement. Yet… I don't know. It still didn't feel real to me. It's like if when you didn't have a seat for next year you were still in Ferrari and you were gonna be in Ferrari. I know it doesn't make sense. The confirmation for 2025 kinda made it all real.”
“No, I get it. It feels weird. But don't worry, I'm still a Ferrari driver, I'll still give it my all.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“And, anyway, having Lewis as your teammate will do you good. You could learn a lot from him.”
“Oh, yes, absolutely. I've always wanted to be his teammate. But I don't wanna lose you either... Before today I felt like I could have both things.”
And how Charles is bringing himself to even have this conversation is a mystery to him.
Carlos doesn't know what to say, since he doesn't say anything. But he's still there on the phone, Charles can feel him.
It gets silent. It gets serious. It gets real.
“Yeah,” Carlos sighs.
There's another, shorter, pause.
“Listen, I'll call you again to organise something. I really want to take you to Madrid.”
“Yes, yeah, sure,” Charles nods his head, “Keep me updated. I'll see you, then. Bye.”
“Bye.”
Charles closes the call, lets his phone fall on the floor and falls back into his mattress, bringing Leo with him.
He holds his dog in front of his face and looks at him. Leo doesn't speak. Dogs tend to do that.
Charles closes his eyes and groans loudly.